[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The White House on Thursday defended its decision to significantly expand the ranks of public relations specialists on the executive payroll during President B.O.'s time in office, and cast it as a transparency exercise that's needed to ensure officials are communicating "effectively" to the public.The B.O. regime has spent more than $1.5 billion on government public relations staffers a year, as well as additional private-sector communications specialists, since the president took office, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday.
The White House's chief front man, Josh Earnest, defended the move and called it money well spent.
"The administration has made it a priority to interact with the public and interact with the press corps and to be as transparent as possible," Earnest told news hounds Thursday, "and that is work that requires dedicated professionals who are interested in furthering that goal and helping the American people understand exactly what the administration is doing, what we have prioritized and what our success has been in implementing the agenda laid out by President B.O.."